Total Gimp

Can you think of a better way to spend the holidays as a totally helpless gimp?  I can, but being a gimp is actually sort of enjoyable.

I did a lot of thinking going into my surgery.  When I first decided to have a screw put in to hold the fracture together, I planned out a return to activity and was planning to work out a plan with my Dr. to return to near normal activity in just a few weeks – to minimize my loss of fitness.  As the surgery approached, I talked with Mary, my doctor and myself – and I realized that my foot (and body) needed time after the surgery to repair itself and trying to force a return to normal activity might yield short term gains, but has a high risk for long term problems. 

One morning it dawned on me that if I stopped and thought of the 6 weeks (minimum) recovery after surgery as just as important “training” period as a 6 week cycle taking place in June and July – I would probably cope with the experience much better.  Not only that, despite the limitations, there is a lot I can accomplish

• Focus on positive nutrition habits with no training pressure
• Core strength and upper body exercises
• Hand Cycling for aerobic work
• Reading and thinking to regroup and refocus mentally

To me it’s pretty obvious that while I will be undoubtedly out of shape when I can resume activity – there is great potential for me to be at the top of my game in other facets of triathlon and life.  Coupled with the knowledge that it’s easier to return to a fitness level than reach it in the first place – I’m excited at the possibilities.

I’m in the process of working out the details of my training for 2010.  It will not be anything overly exciting – basically the same stuff that got me to where I am, as a friend told me “..don’t turn to many dials…”.  The big thing I’m going to really focus on for 2010 is my taper.  I need to ensure that I arrive at my A race fresh not flat.  I’ve discussed this with Matt Amman a fair bit.  Looking back at some of my best races, training days, and my college swimming career – there seems to be a bit of a trend towards better performances with more of a crash taper versus the traditional 2 to 3 week taper.  I’m leaning towards going into my A race, following a pretty hefty week with race week being pretty light.  I’m going to attempt this for St. Anthony’s and the Triple-T to see how it goes, and if it turns out well – I’ll probably do something similar for the A race.

Final thing for today is my schedule for 2010.  In 2009, I raced a lot – it was fun, but I think it distracted me from the work I needed to do to ensure a successful end game.  I’m going to cut back a lot in 2010 and focus on the end game; speaking of which last week I impulsively signed up for Ironman Wisconsin.  Originally, I had intended to wait until after St. Anthony’s and the Triple T before deciding, but I decided to put my name down.

Here are the races I’m thinking of for next year, the races listed in the table below are 95% for sure.  Depending on the training, results, and other influences I might do Elkhart Lake and/or Tri-ing for Childrens.

<td>
  St. Anthony&#8217;s
</td>

<td>
  Triple T
</td>

<td>
  Racine or Door County
</td>

<td>
  Pigman
</td>

<td>
  Ironman Wisconsin
</td>

Happy Holidays.